At Coventry Magistrates Court yesterday, Howard admitted two counts of benefit fraud and was given a six-week suspended prison sentence, despite having paid all the money back.

She was also made the subject of a 12-month supervision order and told to pay £100 costs.

Chairman of the bench Michael Bromley told her: “Although the payment has been made it’s still an extremely serious offence.

“The message must go out that when sums of this amount are defrauded, imprisonment will follow.”

The court heard Howard legitimately began claiming benefits in 2001 but began breaking the law in 2007 after failing to declare that her late brother had left her £40,000 and half of his £250,000 house in Cloister Croft, Walsgrave.

She tried to sell the house in May 2008, but took it off the market because of the downturn in the housing market and got rent-paying tenants in instead.